Escaping the Bonds of Earth (eBook)

The Fifties and the Sixties

Ben Evans (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2010 | 2009
XVIII, 494 Seiten
Springer New York (Verlag)
978-0-387-79094-7 (ISBN)

Infos

To commemorate the momentous 50^th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's pioneering journey into space on 12^th April 2011, a series of five books - to be published annually - will explore this half century, decade by decade, to discover how humanity's knowledge of flying, working and living in space has changed. Each volume will focus not only upon the individual missions within 'its' decade, but also upon the key challenges facing human space exploration at specific points within those 50 years: from the simple problems of breathing and eating in space to the challenges of venturing outside in a pressurised spacesuit and locomotion on the Moon.

The first volume of this series will focus upon the 1960s, exploring each mission from April 1961 to April 1971 in depth: from the pioneering Vostok flights to the establishment of the first Salyut space station and from Alan Shepard's modest sub-orbital 'hop' into space to his triumphant arrival at the Moon's Fra Mauro foothills almost a decade later.

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To commemorate the momentous 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's pioneering journey into space on 12th April 2011, a series of five books - to be published annually until 2011 - will explore this half century, decade by decade, to discover how humanity's knowledge of flying, working and living in space has changed. Each volume will focus not only upon the individual missions within 'its' decade, but also upon the key challenges facing human space exploration at specific points within those 50 years: from the simple problems of breathing and eating in space to the challenges of venturing outside in a pressurised spacesuit and locomotion on the Moon.The first volume of this series will focus upon the 1960s, exploring each mission from April 1961 to April 1971 in depth: from the pioneering Vostok flights to the establishment of the first Salyut space station and from Alan Shepard's modest sub-orbital 'hop' into space to his triumphant arrival at the Moon's Fra Mauro foothills almost a decade later.The Introduction sets the scene with early plans to explore space, balloon flights and such details as the development of pressure suits. Each of the Vostok missions is then covered in depth, together with unmanned precursor flights, subsequent plans and the development of Voskhod. Chapter 2 studies the Mercury missions together with unmanned and monkey flights, the development of the Redstone and Atlas boosters and the ill-fated Dyna-Soar, while the twin Voskhod missions, including the first three-man space crew, first spacewalk and plans for subsequent Voskhods to extend time in space are covered in the third chapter. Each of the Gemini missions are then described, as well as why and how the United States managed to achieve such a 'lead' over the Soviet Union, practising techniques for lunar landings, the development of spacesuit technology for extravehicular activities, 'Blue Gemini' and the Manned Orbiting Laboratory. The Soyuz 1 and Apollo 1 tragedies and aftermath, including redesign, changes to future plans and the effect of Korolev's death precede a chapter on the United States' drive for the Moon, up to Apollo 14, including the challenges facing the first lunar explorers, the consistency of lunar soil and the development of spacesuits to handle locomotion. This first volume ends with an analysis of Soviet direction changes from lunar exploration to long-term space stations (Soyuz 3 to 10 and the development of Salyut 1) and the progress of the human space program in the 1960s and plans for space exploration in the next decade.Each of the next four volumes will follow at yearly intervals, the final one coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's epic journey:

Inhalt

Table of Contents 
6 
Illustrations 
10 
Author's preface 
13 
Acknowledgements 
15 
1 From the East 
16 
CONTRASTS 
16 
VEIL OF SECRECY 
18 
'STAR SAILORS' 
29 
FARMBOY 
31 
"LET'S GO!" 
33 
REACTION 
39 
THE BAY OF PIGS 
42 
A DAY IN ORBIT 
44 
TEACHER'S SON 
47 
SPEACE SICKNESS 
48 
THE WALL RISES 
51 
SPACE DUET 
53 
STARFISH PRIME 
55 
AN IRON MAN AND "A PUZZLE" 
56 
FLYING FALCON, SOARING EAGLE 
58 
OCTOBER CRISIS 
61 
A WOMAN IN SPACE 
64 
THE PERFECT CANDIDATE? 
66 
"ROMANOV AND JULIET" 
68 
RETURN TO EARTH 
71 
2 Monkeys to Men 
74 
HEROES 
74 
A MAN IN SPACE 
76 
THE COMPETITOR 
84 
DIFFERENT WORLD 
86 
"WE GAVE IT AWAY" 
87 
"LIGHT THIS CANDLE!" 
100 
TO GO TO THE MOON 
110 
GRUFF GUS 
113 
ROOM WITH A (BETTER) VIEW 
115 
"THE FIRST THING I HAD EVER LOST" 
119 
'GAS BAG' 
123 
THE ALL-AMERICAN 
128 
SPY SWAP 
131 
THE BEST ... AT LAST 
132 
AN AMERICAN IN ORBIT 
137 
"LEAVE THE RETRO PACKAGE ON" 
140 
EUPHORIA, DISAPPOINTMENT ... AND A BOSS 
144 
'BLACK-SHOE' CARPENTER 
149 
SCIENCE FLIGHT 
151 
RISE AND FALL OF THE AURORA 
155 
PUSHING THE ENVELOPE 
164 
THE JOKER 
166 
THE SIX CIRCUITS OF SIGMA 7 
169 
FIRE HOSES AND POLICE DOGS 
176 
THE END ... 
178 
HOTSHOT 
182 
LAST MERCURY OUT 
185 
3 Space Spectaculars 
193 
JOURNEY TO SPACE 
193 
SARDINES 
197 
"THE WORLD'S FIRST PASSENGER SPACESHIP" 
202 
FROM THAW TO STAGNATION 
205 
RISKY ENDEAVOUR 
206 
A WALK OUTSIDE 
211 
NEAR-DISASTER 
215 
DECLINE 
220 
4 Pushing the Envelope 
224 
MEN WITH MISSIONS 
224 
GROUNDED 
231 
A NEW SPACECRAFT 
233 
ASSASSINATION 
246 
CREWLESS SUCCESSES 
248 
ALL ABOURD THE 'MOLLY BROWN' 
250 
THE ASTRONAUT 
256 
BLOODSHED IN ALABAMA 
258 
CORNED BEEF SANDWICH 
259 
ONWARD, UPWARD ... AND OUTSIDE 
261 
DISCIPLINE, PERSISTENCE, DEDICATION 
266 
FALSE START 
268 
INSIDE MAN 
270 
OUTSIDE MAN 
271 
RECORD BREAKERS 
274 
"HOW MANY BOYS, LBJ?" 
277 
WISEGUY 
279 
"EIGHT DAYS OR BUST" 
281 
CHANGED PLANS 
290 
TWINS? 
297 
THREE HUNDRED HOURS IN SPACE 
301 
LONG HAUL 
302 
"SITTIN' HERE BREATHING" 
306 
FIRECRACKERS, FOOTBALLING AND THE F-86 
308 
RENDEZVOUS! 
310 
5 Onward and Upward 
317 
TRAGEDY 
317 
DEMISE OF THE DYNA-SOAR 
321 
QUIET CIVILIAN 
325 
FIRST AMONG EQUALS 
327 
TRAINING 
330 
"SMOOTH AS GLASS" 
334 
"TUMBLING END-OVER-END" 
339 
PACIFIC RETURN 
342 
ROCKET ARMCHAIRS AND FIREPROOF PANTS 
347 
THE SUBSTITUTE 
349 
THIRD TIME LUCKY 
351 
THE ANGRY ALLIGATOR 
354 
HELLISH SPACEWALK 
358 
"NOTHING SPECIAL" 
364 
SUCCESS AT LAST 
367 
'ANIMAL' 
376 
'M EQUALS 1" 
378 
HIGH RIDE 
382 
CONQUEST OF THE 'HIGH GROUND' 
390 
DR. RENDEZVOUS 
394 
THE END 
397 
6 Disaster, Recovery, Triumph 
404 
"FIRE" 
404 
MOONSHIP 
415 
WITCH HUNT 
425 
OUTER SPACE TREATY 
429 
FALL FROM HEAVEN 
430 
SLOW RECOVERY 
441 
MY LAI 
449 
'THE WALLY, WALT AND DONN SHOW' 
450 
WALT AND 'WHATSHISNAME' 
461 
"101 PER CENT SUCCESSFUL" 
462 
SOYUZ RESURGENT 
464 
"NOT A PRIORITY" 
469 
MOONWARD BOUND 
474 
OUTSIDER 
477 
C-PRIME 
478 
SAVED 
490 
Bibliography 
495 
ARTICLES 
495 
BOOKS 
496 
Index 
500 

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 2.4.2010
• Reihe/Serie: Space Exploration
• Reihe/Serie: Space Exploration
• Reihe/Serie: Springer Praxis Books
• Reihe/Serie: Springer Praxis Books
• Zusatzinfo: XVIII, 494 p. 170 illus.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Astronomie / Astrophysik
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Fahrzeugbau / Schiffbau
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Luft- / Raumfahrttechnik
• Schlagworte: Apollo missions • gemini missions • mercury missions • Moon • space • space exploration
• ISBN-10: 0-387-79094-2 / 0387790942
• ISBN-13: 978-0-387-79094-7 / 9780387790947